Could you imagine your own mother beating you, burning you, and treating the
family dogs better then you? Quite unimaginable to me, but that is what David
Pelzer had to go through. My book is the second of a three book series about the
true story of David Pelzer. Ever since David was the age of 5 years old to maybe
nine, his mother started to hurt him. She told him that he was a “bad boy”
and deserved it all; it was some kind of game to her. At times she would curse
at him, beat him vigorously, burn him, make him eat out of the trash, and starve
him for days. The only time he really ate was at school during lunch because he
would just steal food. When he got home from school he was givin a long load of
chores. Sometimes he got the scraps from dinner, but often times on weekends he
didn’t eat the whole weekend because there was no school. At night, he would
sleep on an old army cot with no blankets. Very rough and harsh living
conditions for a little boy, but he thought he deserved it because she [his
mother] always said he did, and he had no one to tell him that she was wrong.
Every night he would hear his parents after he was in “bed.” He heard them
fighting about him. His father knew little of what was going on because he was
often at work. He noticed the significant difference in the way his mother
treated David versus his other two brothers. He often told her she was wrong and
she would just talk about David as if he was some kind of animal, only referring
to him as “It” or “the boy.” When things came down to it, however,
David’s father would always defend his mother. One incident was at about seven
to eight at night, and David’s parents began to fight once again. Them both
being alcoholics did not much help the situation. David heard his mom screaming
about how she wanted David just to leave. David took this as a chance of a
lifetime, but still kind of risky, walked right out the door. He expected to get
about a block away and hear his mom coming after him in her car, but nothing
happened. He ended up getting picked up by the police that night, and David’s
father just told the police a fake story and took him home. About two to three
months later, some of the teachers and staff of David’s school caught on to
what was happening and reported it to The Services of Children and Family; they
took him away to a foster home. It was a great relief to David because he would
no longer be hurt. Even though his mother had hurt him so much, he felt like a
traitor for exposing the “family secret.” He was not sure what to think; he
diden’t even know if wanted to be away from his mother. Soon after he received
a social worker, Ms.Gold, who to David was an angel. He told her everything
about what went on in “the House”, so that when they went to court that they
could file it against his mother, but David still felt horrible inside. About a
week before the trial came, he got to have a visit with his mother. She told him
that no matter what she would get him back. This scared him greatly and his
story quickly changed. About four days before the trial, Ms. Gold came to visit
him and to talk about the case and what he was going to have to do. David
immediately started to claim that he started all the household problems, that he
had fallen down the stairs, ran into doorknobs, beaten himself up, stabbed
himself, and then he started saying how his mom was a beautiful, kind woman.
Things like that could seriously put him back with his mother. When the court
case came along, David realized that he did not want to go back to “The
House.” The court granted him as a legal ward to the court, but his mother
would not let it stay like that. No way would she let him embarrass her like
that. Soon after, David moved into his first real foster home. Over the next
four to five years, David moved from foster home to foster home. When David was
about 15, his mother tried to convince people David was mentally unstable.
Because of that he was placed in Juvenile Hall for a while, until the trial was
over, proving David was quite stable. From the age of 16-17, David began to take
some responsibilities. He got jobs and bought his own things. David greatly
feared his 18th birthday; that day was the day when he was forced to leave
foster homes and fend for himself. When the day came, David joined the airforce,
which was a dream of his. David went for his dreams! I learned a great deal of
information from this book. I learned that children all over the world who
aren’t even born yet have a chance of this horrible fate. I also learned that
if you have faith in yourself and try not to be someone you aren’t, you get
farther in life. I would definitely recommend this book to a lot of people. It
was the overall best book I have read, and I look forward to reading the first
and last book to this inspiring trilogy.